Mark ran down the hallway a half hour later only to find Roger pacing the waiting room, running his hands through his hair. He looked like a tiger in a cage, waiting to pounce on the first thing that gets too near. When he saw Mark, his pacing stopped. He went to him quickly and hugged him tight.
"How is she?"
"I don't know. They haven't told me any—"
"Excuse me," a doctor said, addressing the waiting room. "Roger Davis. I need to speak with a Roger Davis."
"Here. Me. That's me."
"Okay. Mr. Davis, you're the father of Maureen Johnson's baby?"
"Yeah, yeah. How is she? How's the baby? Are they okay?"
"She's fine. We believe the baby's fine too but I want an ultrasound to be sure. Ms. Johnson, however, is refusing to cooperate until we let you back with her."
"Then let me back in there."
"It is not usually hospital policy to allow unrelated persons—"
"Look, maybe I'm not technically related to Maureen, but that baby is my child. That's my son. You want to say I can't be there for her, fine. I'm going in for my kid."
The doctor glanced at Mark. "And you are?"
"Friend. Mark Cohen."
Roger turned to face him. "Mark, I—"
"We'll talk later. Go. Don't worry about it. Just go."
Roger followed the doctor past the double doors and into a small room. Maureen lay on a hospital bed. Her cheeks were red with tears. Roger sat beside her, taking her hand in his.
"You okay?"
She nodded.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here but they wouldn't—"
"I know."
"The contractions stop?"
Maureen nodded. "There's….they gave me some IV thing to stop them. They said it was false labor."
Roger nodded.
"Sorry."
"What? What for?"
"For making you worry and drag me down here when you were right and it was fine."
"Maureen, I was just as scared as you and I'd have dragged you down here whether you were freaked out or not."
"You got scared?"
"Of course I did….When I—I just…all I kept thinking was that I didn't tell you."
"Didn't tell me what?"
"That I…I love you too."
"What?"
"I love you too. I just, when you said it…I got scared and I freaked."
"So what now?"
Roger shrugged. "I still don't know if this will work and I'm still not sure this is a good idea, but I want to try."
Maureen smiled up at him. "Me too."
Roger leaned down and kissed her closed lips. The sound of a throat clearing drew them apart. A doctor stood in the doorway.
"Okay, are we ready for the ultrasound now?"
Maureen still held Roger's hand. "He's coming with me."
The doctor nodded. "That's fine."
When the ultrasound came back and showed everything was all right, the doctor agreed to let Maureen go home.
"You'll be fine. Everything looks good. It's not at all unusual for first-time mothers to experience false labor. You were right to come in once they got regular and so close together, just to be on the safe side. Follow up with your OB/GYN next week and until then, try to avoid stress and take it easy. Any questions?"
Maureen thought for a minute before shaking her head. "No, no I think you covered it."
"All right, then, I'll have the nurse bring the discharge papers for you to sign."
"Thank you," Roger said.
"You're quite welcome, Mr. Davis. Ms. Johnson, take care."
"I will, doctor."
The doctor slipped from the room. Roger kissed Maureen's forehead. "You okay if I go tell Mark what's going on?"
"Mark's here?"
"Yeah, I panicked and I thought you were going to actually have the baby and so I called him."
"Well yeah, go tell him."
Roger kissed her again and headed out to the waiting room.
"How is she?" Mark asked as soon as Roger appeared.
"Okay. False labor. We came in because the contractions were, like, two minutes apart."
"Shit," he said, sitting down and sighing.
"Yeah. So, um, sorry that we freaked you out."
"Don't be sorry…Did you tell her what I said?"
"Yeah."
"And?"
"And she didn't react right away so I freaked out and ran. Then I went back and she said that she loves me."
"Told you so."
"Yeah, well, I didn't believe her so we got into a fight and I left. When I came back, she was having the contractions."
"And you're going to straighten this out with her, right?"
"I already apologized when I went in there. And I told her that I love her."
"Now I want to hear you say it."
Roger's eyebrows knotted in confusion. "What? That I love Maureen?"
"Close…"
"I love you?"
"No, that I was…"
Roger sighed. "Fine, Mark. You were right. Happy?"
"Ecstatic." The smile plastered on his face assured Roger that he truly was happy for them.
